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eLuSiVeMiTe
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Cleaning your workpieces would be a good start and more power by the looks of it.
Someone with more knowledge will be along shortly no doubt.
Someone with more knowledge will be along shortly no doubt.
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You are welding too cold and too fast.
They where actually pretty clean when I started welding so that may be another question. Should they remain shiny after welding?
eLuSiVeMiTe
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Not much of a welder really but I always clean off all mill scale back to shiny metal beyond the area I want to weld. Even if it looks clean I give it a tickle.
Won't be clean after welding no.
Thanks for the feedback.
I was actually trying to speed up to not get too big welds, I'll try to grind them out and take it a bit slower.
Would you say I'm way off on the power? Should I crank it up a lot?
Yea that's what I did, all pieces where ground down to shiny metal before starting.
I guess they'll get cleaned up again soon if I'm to grind down the welds and redo them. They are strong enough as they are (I overloaded them to test) but since other people will see them it may as well look like they were done by someone who had *some* idea of what they were doing (even if that is not the case =)
Arclikeharrypotter
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What is material thickness, and what machine are you using?
The tube (at the very bottom) is 3mm and the bar stock is about 6mm. I'm using a Telwin Mastermig 220/2.
So I cleaned up a bit of the same 6mm bar and did two experiments.
1. Same voltage setting but slower travel speed (image with the bottom bar sticking out to the left).
Here it felt easy to control the puddle and it turned out better than my previous attempt. At least it *looks* like I got fusion all the way to the edges.
2. Stepped up the voltage from 6 to 7 (out of 8) without changing the wire feed speed (image with the bottom bar sticking out to the right).
Here I found it hard not to undercut. When I tacked it to the edge I got a big nasty undercut.
Is the recommendation still to crank up the power (I'm guessing now from my previous 6 to 7 as I don't think I could handle 8)?
Both times a got more spatter than before, could that be that I did not clean it good enough?
addjunkie
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You could try the same experiment adjusting the wire speed, as this actually dictates the finsl current of the weld. So assuming your stick out doesnt change, your first experiment with wire speed up a tad, will allow you to run at your normal pace, but get a better weld.
Get a piece of scrap, and weld while someone eases up the wire speed, so you can see the effect.
Get a piece of scrap, and weld while someone eases up the wire speed, so you can see the effect.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try that.
Liquid Metal
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Stop with the back and forwards too. Just weld in one continuous movement, keeping the wire in the front part of the puddle, using an almost square-on angle but with a slight push. The backwards and forwards is almost certainly whats causing the complete lack of fusion at the edges
I haven't gotten hold of more bar stock yet so I have not started my experiments but I will sure try this. The welds in the pics are made with "cursive e:s" because weldingtipsandtricks youtube tutorial did them and I have had luck with that technique on thinner material.
Yes, I was dragging. I'll try pushing too.
"sub it out"?
While it's workout equipment it will only ever be loaded with rubber bands, i.e. nothing heavy. I could hang from them with no problem and that is at least four times more than they will ever be loaded with.
Which weld are you referring to? The first image or the other ones? In the first I was rushing a lot but in the others I took it more slowly.
It's plugged into 400V 16A three phase so I doubt that available power is an issue. Maybe my machine is screwed up.
Thanks for all the tips so far, I'll update with results after I get the new bar stock and get to experiment a little.
// Einar
Is there a test I could do for that other than taking each diode out and measuring it?
I did open the machine up and poked around at them and at least no diode had exploded or lost its legs.
So, thanks for all the input, I got hold of some (5 mm) bar and did some experiments.
I pushed in all of them, just straight in the first few, and with a bit of zig-zag in the last.
Settings where:
Image: Voltage, Feed, Travel speed
1: 6, 6.5, slow
2: 6, 6.75, slow (not as slow as the first but close)
3: 6, 6.75, medium (and a bit varying speed)
4: 7, 6.5, fast
5: 7, 7, fast
6: 6, 6.5, slowish zig-zag
I think the 1, 2 and 6 looks pretty good, but what do I know =)
In some, 1 and 2, I had a bit of bad ground at first but after about half way it got better (I think I need to clean better). 5 and 6 stops a bit short since I put the ground clamp straight on the piece to get better ground.
My goal is to do the other sides after I get some feedback and then cut and etch them to see how the penetration is.
// Einar
I pushed in all of them, just straight in the first few, and with a bit of zig-zag in the last.
Settings where:
Image: Voltage, Feed, Travel speed
1: 6, 6.5, slow
2: 6, 6.75, slow (not as slow as the first but close)
3: 6, 6.75, medium (and a bit varying speed)
4: 7, 6.5, fast
5: 7, 7, fast
6: 6, 6.5, slowish zig-zag
I think the 1, 2 and 6 looks pretty good, but what do I know =)
In some, 1 and 2, I had a bit of bad ground at first but after about half way it got better (I think I need to clean better). 5 and 6 stops a bit short since I put the ground clamp straight on the piece to get better ground.
My goal is to do the other sides after I get some feedback and then cut and etch them to see how the penetration is.
// Einar
I'm starting to think that Jim Davey and 8ob is onto something when they question the machine health.
When I think back to when I first got the machine about a year and a half ago I recall it having more omph.
According to the manual i should have about 160-170 amps in image 4 and 5 above. Does that look about right to you guys?
// Einar
When I think back to when I first got the machine about a year and a half ago I recall it having more omph.
According to the manual i should have about 160-170 amps in image 4 and 5 above. Does that look about right to you guys?
// Einar
